


Sunrise Sunset

by MsOuroboros



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Canon-Style Violence, Emotionally stunted Charon, Gen, Post-Canon, Settlements, borrowing a lot from Fallout 4 settlement building, socially Stunted Charon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11195103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsOuroboros/pseuds/MsOuroboros
Summary: The lone wanderer never takes Charon's contract.  Years later, Charon finds an unexpected new owner who wants nothing more than to live in peace.  The wasteland has little peace to offer.  How a 7 foot killing machine fits into her life leads to unexpected adventures, and a new purpose for Charon.





	1. Chapter 1

They called him the Wasteland Savior, Champion of Justice, even the Messiah. But the Lone Wanderer hadn't saved Charon. That had almost met. The smoothskin passed through the Ninth Circle twice. Both times he had barely glanced at the bodyguard in the corner, busy with some other task.

But he had seen enough that Charon could bring a mental image of the man when praise poured from the radio. Sometimes, he would daydream that the Wanderer had bought his contract. That he had joined him in the adventures Three Dog cheered about. When he heard about the Wanderer's death, he wondered what would have happened if he had taken his place, spared him and instead easily soaked up the radiation into his ghoul flesh. Maybe that would have redeemed him for the horrors he had committed under Ahzrukhal and his other masters.

But letting his mind wander like that did him no good. In reality, the Wanderer had ignored him, and he had died. Charon had stayed in the corner of the circle, and the tales of the memories of the Wanderer slowly became less common on the radio as the wastes moved onto other news.

Ahzrukhal had held his contract for 41 years, 3 months and 11 days. It promised to be no different than any other day when a different smoothskin entered the bar.

He was a teenager, still gangly and gap toothed, talking in a happy and excited tone to every ghoul in the place. Some humored him, chatting to him for long stretches.

"Talk to Ahzrukhal." Charon did not humor him.

The boy looked confused, then with the same child like curiosity went over to Charon's owner. Charon couldn't hear the conversation, but they were gestures directed at him, a sly smile on Ahzrukhal's face. Then, the boy leapt up and ran from the bar, looking giddy.

He returned a few minutes later, practically dragging two ghouls with him, and waving at Charon as though he were an exciting new toy.

"The barkeep says he's amazing in battle and you said we needed a hired gun, Uncle Harry! He says we can buy his contract for forever and that's better than the mercs you were looking at, right?"

"Calm down boy. Now what was that. His... contract?" The first ghoul wore well worn road leathers, and spoke in a slow tone that contrasted the boy's enthusiasm.

"What is he talking about?" asked the woman. Her voice had the slightest lilt to it, remnants of an old Southern accent.

"Talk to Ahzrukhal." repeated Charon.

The two ghouls exchanged a confused glance, then approached the bar. They were both pre-war ghouls, Charon mused. There was a gravitas in both their movements that spoke to education and social graces long since forgotten. The woman still wore a pearl necklace against her ruined skin. The tufts of hair that remained were a light gray, showing she had already lived a long life when the bombs came and turned her.

Across the bar, the conversation started quietly between the newcomers and his owner, then seemed to get tense and angry. It ended with the man slamming his fists on the bar, barking "That's slavery!" and the woman pulling him aside and murmuring something to calm him down, then talking in the same soft but stern murmurs to Ahzrukhal.

Their concern was nice, if unneccessary. Charon resigned to his fate, and the trio didn't look like they had enough caps to buy drinks, not to mention whatever sum Ahzrukhal was demanding.

So it was a shock when the woman approached him with a paper in hand. "My name is Nana Mae," her voice was matter of fact. "I've bought your contract. You are no longer owned by Ahzrukhal."

Charon was moving before she finished talking. "There's something I must attend to," he replied. Nana Mae's nodded her head, her lips a grim line.

As Charon crossed the bar the teenage boy seemed exhillerated that they had purchased his contract. He was actually hopping up and down, clapping his hands in glee "Yeah! We got a big gun! We got a big gun!" He only stopped when Charon blasted Ahzrukhal's head open, splattering gore across his shoes. 

"What...." the boy started to ask before the other ghoul placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and shook his head. It seemed that even if the smoothskin was shocked by his actions, both ghouls accepted it.

"That's Harry," Nana Mae said, nodding to the ghoul "and our boy is Sebastian. There's four more of us in the crew, four left that is. I'm going to head back and check on them."

The ghoul Harry was pushing the shaking kid Sebastian into a chair when the left the Ninth Circle. Charon followed Nana Mae into the Chop Shop, where two of the crew members were. A ghoul of slight build was sitting up in the bed with bandages around his leg. He quietly introduced himself as Steady, keeping his voice down as he watched the patient on the next bed with a look of grief.

Nana Mae was rubbing that figure's back, humming a lullaby like a mother putting a child to sleep. The woman was in her thirties, pale, and unconcious. A jagged line of wounds wound up her side. The air smelled thick with Med-X and infection.

"I've made her as comfortable as I can," explained Doctor Barrows. "Time will tell." Nana Mae thanked him, and stared down at the woman's face with sad eyes.

"Mirelurks got to our camp four days ago," Steady explained to him in a hushed voice. "There were five of them. Killed two of our guards in their sleep. Tore her up pretty bad. I took him down though. We had used the last of our stimpacks on a lame Brahmin. Infection set in. Fever. Couldn't do anything."

Nana Mae kept petting the woman's hair, speaking to her softly and smoothingly. Charon felt uncomfortable, the issues in the room weren't ones solved with shotguns. He planted himself in the corner, reverting to bodyguard mode.

"This contract," Nana Mae finally said, after Steady's breathing had shown he fell asleep. "Is there any way you can be free of it?"

"None that I am aware without my death. For good or for ill, I will follow you."

Nana Mae took a ragged breath, "It was a such selfish thing, buying your contract. Just selfish. I would free you once we were home, but if that isn't possible..." she trailed off, brushing sweat slick hair off the face of the unconcious woman. "I just cannot bury more of them, Lord help me I can't. So the contract. It is an evil act for the greater good. God forgive me."

Her misty gray eyes searched his face, but Charon remained silent.

"I can promise you this. If I have to hold this contract, I will never ask you to do anything I will not do. I can promise you that. Do you understand?"

Charon nodded, but thought to himself of all the hideous things that an owner might be willing to do. He pushed the thoughts aside and let his eyes fall somewhere past the walls of the room.

It was the middle of the night when Nana Mae dozed off in her chair. Not long after, the woman in the bed stopped breathing. Charon stood silent in the corner for another hour and a half until Nurse Graves noticed. As they wheeled the body away, his owner wept on Steady's shoulder.

Nana Mae had held his contract for less than 4 hours, and they certainly were different than the years beforehand.


	2. Chapter 2

Nana Mae had held his contract for a day when she gave her first order.   
" Charon, could you please be a dear and help Steady keep an eye on the caravan?" she asked him. "The others need to get some sleep and, well, I'd just like a little time after last night."

He nodded and said "I will." It was perhaps the least authoritative command he had ever received, but his previous contract holders weren't pocket sized old lady ghouls, so he would adjust.

He and Steady had walked out and traded with the other members of the team, both Smoothskin. One had her arm in a sling and introduced herself as Hannah. The other muttered his name soft enough that Charon couldn't hear. Not that he particularly cared, but knowing these people around him was important. Time had taught him that the biggest threats to the lives of his contract holders were often their most closest friends. A slit throat at night from a trusted lover kills as easily as a bullet from a stranger.

The caravan itself was going to make them a target from other dangers. Four brahmin, each with loaded packs milled under the stuffed Wooly Mammoth. Parts of Mr. Handys stuck out from under a canvas bag like legs of a spider. Another had a water purifier strapped to its rear. Surprisingly, Charon's contract had obviously not been the most expensive purchase for Nana Mae. It was a lot of potential scavenge, and even in the safety of the entrance to the Museum of History, he found himself scanning for hostiles.

"Raiders," said Steady from behind him. The ghoul was lighting a cigarette, then gestured at the caravan. "Gonna be an issue. Out there."

Charon nodded in agreement, and they settled into a steady silence.

They left the next morning, headed west towards the remnants of Interstate 66. If he allowed himself to be honest, it felt great. The sun was warm on his face. The wind moved the tufts of hair from his head and crept around the edges of his armor. The first steps outside, he had taken huge, stretching, taking deep breaths through the remnants of his nose before falling in step with the caravan.

They were moving slow, far too slow. The long lines of brahmin, ghouls and smoothskins was barely shuffling, like all the energy was drained. Everyone had grim lines to their face, sallow complexions. The woman from the Chop Shop wasn't the first companion they had buried recently. No one seemed to want to speak.

Except for Sebastian, who seemed determined to talk enough for the whole crew, loud enough that raiders a mile away could probably hear them. "Did you see that building over there? Look! Look at it, Uncle Harry! See it? Don't it kinda look like a willy? Why you think those pre war folks made a willy building? Course I guess you was pre war too, huh? You know why they made it like that? Hey Hannah. Hannah... you see all those cars down there? Sure were a lot of them, huh?"

Harry would snap back "hush boy", but he would be back talking in a few moments. Charon eyeballed a roll of duct tape hanging off of a brahmin and pictured lashing Sebastian to the back of the brahmin instead, a few strips over his mouth. The kid was a liability. And for some inconceivable reason, Steady had given him a rifle. Charon doubted he even knew which end the bullet came from. He waved it about like a toy, or drug it in the mud. It would have been more responsible to give a radstag a missile launcher. 

The only good thing was the kid had avoided him since he shot off Ahzrukhal's face, so none of the ramblings were directed at him.

That afternoon, a group passed the other way leading a brahmin, wearing road leathers. They could just be traders themselves, but they were eyeballing their caravan a bit more than Charon liked, especially so close to making camp. He stepped out front, making a show of flexing and staring steely eyed, when he noticed movement to the side. Hannah and Steady were both stepping forward as well, both showing they were well armed.

Alright then, they were the security team. The other group seemed to take the message and they moved on.

The momentary stand off seemed to break some of the cloud that hung over the group and they started talking, quietly at first, then by the time they bedded down and built a fire, he could hear Harry chuckling at something Hannah was saying. Charon stood some distance off, scanning the horizon.

"Which would you like for dinner Charon?" asked Nana Mae from the fire "Beans or mac and cheese?"  
"I do not require food."

Nana Mae made a horrified tsking noise, dropping her spoon. "Now the world may have ended but that ain't no excuse for poor social graces. You're eating with us, now, which do you want?"  
"I will eat what is provided."  
"Never say that to a grandmother," said Steady from the other side of the fire. He glanced from him to Nana Mae who looked at him with a pout, then chuckled.

She walked over with a plate and patted the cement divider. "Come and sit down, Charon." He obeyed before he could think. The plate she handed him was loaded high, a huge serving of beans on one half and a huge serving of mac and cheese on the other. "Eat up." It was another order and he dug in.

The whole time he ate, Nana Mae regaled him with a pre war story where she had been chased into a port a potty by an angry goose trying to get at a cake she had made for a church bake sale. Harry and Steady were bawling with laughter, but the smoothskins looked confused.  
"What's a goose, Uncle Steady?" asked Hannah.

Steady let his face go grim. "Those bones back at the Museum of History? Ones with the big teeth? That was a young one. Worse than a DeathClaw. Spit acid. Mutated into molerats, after the war."

The smoothskins looked horrified, but Nana Mae reached over and smacked Steady's knee, "You ass, that ain't true." Steady dropped the stern face and he and Harry hiccupped with laughter.

Harry collected the plates when they finished eating. "Steady, will you take first watch?"

"It is not necessary, I will take watch all night." replied Charon. 

"Nonsense! You go to sleep Charon, Steady will wake you up when it's your turn."

It was an order and Charon tried to obey. He lay still on the dead woman's unused bedroll, staring at the sky. But dinner wasn't sitting well with him. He had found that two hundred years of preservation didn't make the best meals, and he had eaten far too much. It was a relief when Steady nudged him with his boot to wake, and he grumbled as he rose to his feet.

Steady grinned at him, "Only a grandmother would punish you with too much food, huh? Have a good watch."

Charon muttered something under his breath, then took over watching over the silent wastes. It was a quiet night, and he watched the sunrise over the ruins of the city.

The caravaners were all talking now. Each of them had the sense to keep their voices low, except for Sebastian who still shrieked out everything in his mind. But still, the mood was more upbeat and their pace improved.

Charon wasn't engaged in conversation, not that he expected to be. But he caught bits and pieces. They were headed to a place that Harry called 'that damned hotel' and Sebastian called Atlantis. There was something about a man named Titan, who none of the ghouls seemed to care for. It was at least 2 weeks journey. Hannah was looking forward to seeing someone named Karen. The details didn't matter, they didn't affect his contract.

The day was mostly uneventful. They had one nasty run in with some mole rats. Steady had proven to be a decent shot with a plasma rifle, and Hannah one handed still used her pistol well. Sebastian had attempted to shoot one, only to find his rifle wasn't loaded, and Steady gave Hannah a dirty look before laughing. It wasn't bad, all this. Just the pock marked road and coaxing the brahmin. If every day of his contract was like this, he'd be a happy ghoul

That night, Nana Mae asked him again, "What would you like for dinner, Charon? Salisbury steak or mac and cheese?"

He almost said he didn't care, but bit down the answer. "Salisbury steak."

Nana Mae smiled at him and came over with it on a plate, with a Fancy Lad Snake cake tucked to the side. "I figure you'll have enough room for dessert tonight."

He ate it first. It was the first chocolate he had had in fifty years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Latest playthrough, every time Charon grumbled, I blamed it on indigestion. There is no way that you can eat 200 year old food on a sensitive stomach.


	3. Pie

Nana Mae had held his contract for five days. His main duty was protecting the caravan, but intimidating bigots was an extra.

They had found a small settlement, a cluster of houses and Brahmin that seemed friendly enough. Harry and Hannah had gone to see if they were interested in trading. The settlers judged the caps acceptable, but they made it clear they had to be handed over by smoothskin hands and not the ghoul's.

But still, there was going to be fresh water and meat, and even a sort of pie made from mutfruit that had Sebastian beyond excited.

"Calm down there," scolded Nana Mae. "What's that on your face? Hold still." And she produced from her dress pocket a handkerchief which she licked and used to wipe at the offending spot. It was a gesture that belonged to a time before the world ended. 

Nearby Charon heard one of the settlers gasp and make an exaggerated gagging noise. It shook him out of his head and he pulled himself to his full height, letting his clouded eyes become daggers while he quietly pulled out and investigated his knife. These were moves honed over years in the corner of the Ninth Circle. Little gestures that would make people decide to leave on their own two feet long before he had to throw them out.

The settler gasped and scurried away, message received. He glanced over at the oblivious Sebastian and found Nana Mae staring at him with curious eyes. He wondered what message she had read from the exchange.

\-----

"Charon, would you like some pie?" They had set up camp further down the road, just past where the lights of the settlement blinked out over the horizon. Regardless of his thoughts on the bigots, the concept of a fresh baked pie made his mouth water.

"Yes."

Nana Mae had turned to cut him a slice when Hannah leaned over. "She's going easy on you because you're a newcomer. Rest of us have to say please and thank you." Behind her, Steady grinned.

Oh. "Yes, please." The words felt forced, but in return he was handed a slice of pie, mutfruit juice dripping down the flaky brown crust. It was all he could do not to wolf it down, instead fiddling with the tiny fork Nana Mae handled him.

"You think thats good, you wait until we are settled in our new home. Nana is the best baker." Hannah said with a smile.

"Oh, it was better before the war," said Nana with a wry smile. "You could do so much more then, just pop off to the market and buy what you needed."

"Nana placed blue ribbon three times in the state fair," said Harry with a smile.

"Oh no, only twice and second place once, but my jam got honorable mention that year. Are you from before the war, Charon?"

He grunted affirmatively into his forkful of pie, and Nana Mae stared at him like she expected something else. "Yes," he tried, but she still smiled like she was waiting. Was he supposed to say please again?

"He don't talk much," explained Steady.

"Well that's alright then. I'll just talk enough for the both of us. Let's see. Well, when the bombs came, I was 66 years old. Harry and I were on vacation with his wife. They took me to see the Grand Canyon. Always wanted to see it, and that ridiculous doctor said I was going to die in a few months, so Harry said there ain't no time like the present."

"Ma, you had cancer."

"And here I am two hundred years later right as rain! That's the biggest misdiagnosis Ive ever heard of! But anyway, we are driving back when suddenly the car stops dead and I turn and there's the clouds blooming over the hill and that horrid orange sky. Took shelter in a cabin there with a kind family. Radiation got them not long after, Harry's wife too. Took us a while to figure out what was happening. None of those government programs warned you you could turn ghoul. So, when the black rains stopped we decided to head back east towards home. Met Steady not long after."

The man in question mock saluted. "Nana Mae collects strays."

"A good family grows and shares. There were eight of us, ghouls, traveling together by the time we came back. Best day of my life. The neighbors had built a little shelter before that Alaska battle and they all hid out there. They were just fine, but my grand babies had babies by that time. They all knew me right away."

Nana Mae was beaming with pride, but the look on Harry's face showed he didn't agree with that last statement. 

"We rebuilt, whole little town, welcomed everyone, none of that ridiculous nonsense against ghouls. Sebastian here will be my great great great great great great great grandson. Give or take a great. Things were peaceful, but, I guess....". 

"Raiders," explained Steady. "Ran us out. Most got killed. A year ago."

There was a sad silence for a moment, and Charon took the last bite of pie, then greedily started licking up the juice from the plate.

"What did you do before the war?"

That was a good question, actually. Flashes of blue water and trees, music in the park, pain, anger, blood and screams. A different world, one that had destroyed itself and took with it his skin, his freewill, his very name. "I don't really remember."

The silence continued and Charon wondered if there wasn't another slice of pie left.


	4. Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raiders plan to ambush them. The caravan ambushes the raiders instead.  
> Charon never could predict what they come away with

"Ambush," Steady said grimly, handing the binoculars to Hannah, who stared through them for a few moments into the area ahead before agreeing.

Charon had been the one to notice the movement, a flash of something reflective in the hills over head. A noise that could be mistaken for the squawk of a mutated bird, but a bit too high, too human: A look-out sending out the alert. 

They were headed down a slope in the highway, mountains jutting up sharply on either side. An ancient landslide had swallowed all but one lane of the road, pushing with it a rusted old semi truck that blocked most of the view. But when he was handed the binoculars, he could see enough. In the far distance, a tall and ramshackle wooden structure looked down on the road, and he could already see a raider with what seemed to be a missile launcher taking up position up top. On either side of the mountain, raiders were getting into position behind the bluffs. Six visible total, maybe seven. Their set up was obvious. They'd be pushed into a corral by the landslide and picked off from above. Corpses, after all, are easier to loot.

Nana Mae paced and wrung her hands when they came back to tell the rest. "Oh, we can't go that way, we can't DO this!"

"Ma! Calm down." snapped Harry. He was bent over an ancient map that was torn and retaped along the fold lines, drawn over with years of scratches and scribbles of revisions from travellers. His fingers first traced one line, then with a curse he traced another before straightening his back. "Next pass through these mountains is a good thirty miles from here, if it's not caved in. Doubt the Brahmin will be able to get that far."

"What do we DO?" whispered Nana Mae, her ruined fingers winding around the pearl necklace she wore. 

"We fight our way through," answered Hannah, looking grim.

"No. No! We can't. You can't put yourself at risk like that. I won't..."

"Ain't no choice Ma." Harry surveyed the area, his hands on his hips. "But I think we might have a chance. Steady, you still got that dynamite?"

"Yeah. Landslide? There?" Steady pointed up the mountainside on the right where there seemed to be a steep path higher than where the raiders were setting up.

"Right. You start that, Hannah and I will take the raiders to the left side once they start to panic. Sebastian... I got the perfect job for you. The sun ought to blind them in a bit when they look this way. Head up further with the Brahmin and act as the distraction, like you're resting them. Be loud. Real loud. Talk about... whatever. You ought to make as much noise as a whole damn caravan."

Sebastian started to say something, then shut his mouth with a snap and sat down, sulking.

Finally, Harry turned, "And Charon..." but the ghoul was looking instead to Nana Mae. Harry's idea was a bit too simple, a bit optimistic, but Charon would follow it if his contract holder asked.

The grandmotherly figure sighed and took Charon's hands in her own. She stared into his foggy blue eyes, and Charon tried desperately to figure out how to react, something like panic spilling down his spine. Contract holders don't have heart felt moments. "Charon, my family is my everything. I need them to be safe. And if that means killing those raiders, well... Just make the passage safe for everyone."

Charon sighed and wished that Ahzrukhal had just told Nana Mae how to point at something and order it dead. Still, he could work with this as an order. He looked to Harry. "I'll take point."

_______

A half hour later, Charon strode straight towards the corral the raiders had set up, his shotgun at the ready. The sun was at his back, but he had more of an advantage thanks to the Stealth Boy Hannah had given him. To his right, he saw Steady uphill from the raiders, and behind him Sebastian could still dimly be heard on the wind. The boy's voice really did carry.

Still invisible, he rounded the front of the truck, and into the open area. The ground was stained rust colored. Layers of blood, he realized, then noticing the remains of a young Brahmin and what looked like a small shoe in by the roadside. A raider stood nearby, trying to wave down one of his fellows up the hill. Ahead, the wood building they had seen through the binoculars was larger than he realized. Not only the tall tower, but a squat building beyond. A corpse hung from a gambit beyond. Probably more raiders than they first counted. Risky.

The raider on the highway turned, walking point blank towards Charon as he wondered how long the Stealth Boy would last. Probably not much longer. No time like the present to get started with this plan

Charon shot him once in the chest at point blank, the man's face not even registering surprise before he hit the floor.

Above, the sound retorted off of the mountainsides, and immediately he heard shouts from the raiders, and he quickly moved away from the corpse. Shots began to fire out, but they were wild, aimed where he had been. In another few moments the raiders would try rushing the roadway, but then Steady set off the dynomite.

The sound hit Charon like a blow, echoing off of mountains and back again, until his ears rung. Rocks from the landslide came down, tumbling the raiders with them, only stopped when they hit the ancient landslide in the same area. On the opposite side, he heard yells, gunshots. Hannah and Harry, taking out the raiders to the left.

Which left Charon's primary target. The tower up ahead, and the missile launcher on the roof.

He felt the Stealth Boy fizzle out as he neared the door. No matter. Combat, this, it felt natural. Smooth. Like relaxing a muscle that had been tense for too long.

The first raider was rushing out of the entrance, male, armed with a machete. Shot in the head. Behind him was a female, unarmed. Butt of his shotgun to her face, stab to the throat. The first floor clear. Second floor, a male rushing down the stairs, 10 mm pistol. Shotgun blast, then pulling the body clear of the stairwell. Second floor clear. Third floor no hostiles. Fourth floor, male raider near ladder, unarmed. Left hook, then flipping him off the scaffolding to the ground below. Fourth floor clear. Long ladder up to the roof.

And there, a raider struggled to lift the missile launcher, trying to aim it at Hannah and Harry. He turned when he heard Charon coming, his face a mask of terror. Younger than Sebastian's age, this one, tears streaking down his face and he screamed for help. Probably barely knew how to use the missile launcher. Charon felled him with a blast to the face.

Below, he could hear yells from the building that stretched below. More raiders. He cursed under his breath and headed back down the ladder, finding a raider rushing up to him on the second floor, face pale under the paint as she stared up at him on the wooden stairs as he brought his shotgun up. Another was just in the doorway, looking away into the room beyond, easily snapped neck. A third screamed in the room beyond, but a glance deemed her not a threat and Charon ignored her, charging past, through a room filled with sleeping bags to the door beyond.

Outside, nothing. A half collapsed bridge was behind the building, but Charon couldn't see any fleeing raiders, no voices. His mind turned to Harry and Hannah, checking on them, his order from Nana Mae... He turned and walked back to the corral and the caravan beyond.

Everyone had made it through the ordeal, it seemed. Nana Mae was practically petting Hannah, crying, and Harry was rather animatedly telling about how they took out the three raiders on their side. As he approached, Nana Mae suddenly peeled herself off of Hannah and came running over, throwing him into a hug.

She barely came up to his armpit, "Oh, that was horrible! I watched in the binoculars. Jesus, that was awful, but you kept them safe, thank you. But that was awful."

Charon stood stick still, desperately looking to Steady for some kind of guidance on how to handle this. Manners again? "Thank you."

"No, thank you. Thank you for saving my family. Oh but that was awful!"

After a few more rounds of being thanked for being awful, they finally talked out what to do. Stay in the raiders' building for the night. Search the place for supplies. Head out in the morning.

It was a good plan, only Sebastian started to scream the moment they entered the building and he stepped over the first corpse. In the other room, there was an answering scream and Charon suddenly remembered the raider he left alive. Nana Mae was faster than him though, rushing to the little closed off area where the raider was.

"My god!"

"I didn't think she was a threat," explained Charon, in a panic. His orders weren't to kill everyone, just to make it safe. Had he done wrong?

"She mustn't be more than eight months old. You poor thing!" Nana Mae picked up the girl who was bawling and pulled her to her chest.

"My god, her family must have been the raiders," said Steady behind him.

Sebastian was looking at the dead body by his feet, his face green, then glared at Charon, and behind him Harry had a similar glare.

Okay, so apparently he had in fact done something wrong. He pondered how he could have done better as Nana Mae sort of bounced the baby while shushing her.

\----

The next morning, they found the raiders had been well stocked. There was the grim discovery of why, as well. Over the broken bridge, they saw down below where piles of Brahmin twisted with the bodies of the members of the caravans and settlers who had travelled with them. Some of the bodies seemed awful small. Even up above, the smell was atrocious. After this discovery, everyone had stopped seeming so angry at Charon for killing the parent raiders.

But, after searching every box and crate the Brahmins were practically toppling with loot. Moving forward, the caravan had more ammo, food, and caps than any wasteland storefront. It would mean they would be travelling slower.

Slower too because for some reason they were taking the baby with them, who they had started calling Betty after Nana Mae's long deceased sister. For a brief moment, he had worried he would be asked to carry her, but it seemed he was the only one not assigned that duty. Instead, Betty was draped sleeping across Nana Mae's shoulder, or slung in cloth around Hannah, or carried by Sebastian. Out of all of them Sebastian seemed the most thrilled with baby duty. His running commentary suddenly had a focus.

"See the car over there? That's a car. Can you say car? That car is red. Red is my favorite color. Uncle Harry's shirt is red. Charon's hair is red. Can you say red?"

Charon sighed, scanning the roadway ahead for any signs of danger and wondered if he would get any of the sweets they had scrounged from the raiders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going through some issues, but this story has been in the back of my head the whole time. I'll be adding more chapters regularly now.
> 
> Inspired mostly by the time I accidentally punched someone in Rivet City and Charon basically decided this was a sign to just go on a settlement wide killing spree while I just stood there. The first essential character I found who made it was a kid.


	5. Memories and Hope

Nana Mae had held his contract for two weeks. Most of it had been spent tracking over the mountain ridges. It was twelve days into their trip when they turned a corner that opened into a vast valley. It was green, and for a second Charon thought that the trees were covered in leaves. Getting closer, it turned out to be vines growing heavy from the dead trunks, but living plants none the less. The whole valley seemed alive, and the Brahmin soon took to munching on the low scrappy mutated plants literring the ground.

It perked up everyone's mood, and soon Harry was telling stories of visiting state parks and going to for Christmas trees. Tales of greenery and life.

All other ghouls Charon had met could talk about the time before the war so easily. In Underworld, it had been in mournful whispers, like sad tales told at a wake. People would tell of their lost families, their lost lives, staring at burned hands with tears in their eyes.

But out here Nana Mae, Harry and Steady told stories happily around the campfire at night. The beagle that was trained to bark along to Sinatra. The science experiment volcano that they put too much vinegar and baking soda in, flooding the kitchen. The time the neighbor tried to sabotage Nana Mae's famous pickled beets recipe. Steady's time as a minor league baseball player, and more rarely his service in the war. They'd laugh and explain nuiances of the time to the confused smooth skins.

Charon almost wished he had something to contribute, but his memories just weren't there, weren't clear. There were moments that rekindled vague thoughts. When Snowflake had first come to the Underworld, he had found a small bottle of aftershave and took to wearing it. Each time he passed by Charon, for a moment there was a flash of somewhere: a bathroom, clean. Running a comb through his damp, thick red hair. But he could never remember more and the aftershave ran out, leaving just the damp mold smell of the Ninth Circle.

It had happened too when Three Dog had first taken over Galaxy News Radio. One of the songs made Charon's head swim as he stood in the corner. Something important, something with lights, feeling safe, safer than he ever did... but the flash would be gone as fast as it came. Over the years, the feeling passed as the same songs played over and over again until he wasn't sure which song it was that had brought it on in the first place.

But then it happened as they passed through the end of the huge valley. In the middle of the natural beauty around them was a billboard, bleached by the sun. A smiling young woman and a child, half their faces torn away, to the right blaring "Ninth Wonder of the World! Bring the Whole Family!" He'd seen it before. But the last time he was moving faster, the rumble of an engine in his ears, the valley below truly green with trees. As the memory flooded past, he knew what they would find beyond the sign before he saw it. The huge parking lot cut into the mountain itself. The building with its huge red roof, trucks milling around in the parking lot, full of people and life, and... something.

It was there, silent and still now. The roof was collapsed in completely, barely any red showing among the rust stains. Only two rusted out lumps of trucks remained, the sign still towered above reading "RUCK STOP". Harry and Steady briefly considered searching it for supplies, but they were still overloaded from the raider den, so they passed it by.

That was a shame because... something. The memory slipped away again as fast as it came, and Charon sighed. Memories were ghosts that slid out of your reach the harder you tried to grab onto them. He scanned the road ahead for danger.

They were only three days journey from their destination and spirits were high. Since the encounter with the raiders they hadn't seen any other person, and while they trekked through the green valley, it just seemed more lively. Other than a few mole rats and some radstags in the distance there hadn't been any concerns. Good because the baby Betty would cry, only sated when Nana Mae or Sebastian sang to her. 

That night, they were camped out near the edge of the valley, Sebastian sing songing to the baby. Charon sat guard a bit away, watching for movement in the valley below. He started when Nana Mae sat beside him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She sighed. Charon was confused for a moment, then followed her gaze up. The stars stretched on forever above them, a full moon half hiding behind. It cast a glow down on the green valley below, pulling long shadows from the vine topped trees. 

It was strange. Decades spent staring at the same close walls of the Underground. The furthest thing in his line of sight the back of the bar where he watched the plaster peel and mold. Trapped there. Now, this view stretched on for infinity. His mind almost hadn't adjusted to the idea.

He realized Nana Mae was still waiting for an answer, so Charon grunted in the affirmative.

"I hope... I hope that our new home is half as lovely as this. I just want my family safe Charon. I hope... I just hope."

They sat in silence for a long while before a Radstag doe wandered near enough that they could see its four eyes blinking in the moonlight before it dashed away through the brush. Charon followed it with his eyes, only to find Nana Mae staring at him

"Charon, I hope that you can be happy here. I'm not proud of myself for taking your contract but I hope you can be family. I'm nothing without my family." She chuckled. "I AM my family."

Charon took a deep breath. The air seemed crisp, damp earth and growing things. Behind him, Harry and Hannah laughed and something Steady said while Sebastian sang to the baby. 

"I like this place," he said finally. Nana Mae reached over and squeezed his hand before returning to the fire.

\-----

The road took a sharp turn and mounted a hill the next day, and they crested over to find the green abruptly ended at the top of the hill. Below, it was gray and rocky. The Brahmin pulled back trying to return to the tasty brush.

"You're gonna live like a princess at our new home, you know that?" Said Sebastian to Betty. "We all are. Nana Mae and Uncle Steady and Uncle Harry and Uncle Charon..."

Charon made a startled noise that made Steady burst into laughter and keep snickering until Hannah suddenly shushed everyone, pointing to something at the roadside.

Near the road was the remnants of a campfire, scattered remnants of empty cans and a few bits of bloody torn cloth. It was recent, the camp of a large number of people. Harry had his binoculars out in a flash, scanning the surrounding area.

"There," said Steady. They had left the road, disrupted rocks and dirt kicked dirt showing where both people and Brahmin had tread, and had headed over a nearby low hill. Harry handed him the binoculars and he tracked the traces of their path.

"Few days old. Came from up ahead. No sign now."

Hannah kicked at the bloody strips, and something about the scene sent chills down Chaton's spine. They continued in relative silence.

Just before sundown the second day, they crested over the last mountain, and found themselves staring down into the valley below. A large building nestled near the mountainside glowed in the distance with electric lights, surrounded by an expanse of gray rocky terrain. It was as visible as it was vulnerable.

"I think," said Harry, studying his map, "that that is Atlantis. That's our new home."

Sebastian let out a whoop of joy, and Charon was surprised when Hannah joined in.

Charon surveyed the landscape, the hundred ways he could see offhand of attacking the building. Steady stood back, narrowing his eyes at the scene in front of them.

"Nana Mae..."

"Now Steady, we have to be positive about this. Isn't that right Charon?"

He sighed, shifting his shotgun to the other shoulder. "I don't like that place."


	6. Reunion

The two hour trip across the valley to Atlantis was more nerve wracking than anything Charon had done in his decades serving Azhurkal. His caravan rushed across the open area twice as fast as they had moved the whole trip so far. It was dark, each rolling dip in the ground could be ready to hide a waiting ambush of raiders, each rock outcropping could disguise a sleeping deathclaw. Charon tried to run ahead, whipping around to every possible threat as everyone surged forward.

And they were heading towards what exactly? A half crumbled hotel. A building none of them had seen before, approaching without caution because they believed it was where their friends were. It could have been taken over by Super Mutants by now for all they knew.

And yet, despite practically running up to it, despite Sebastian's voice echoing over the valley and the wails of Betty, no one in Atlantis noticed they were coming until they were practically at the doorstep, an excited voice inside calling out "Nana Mae is here!"

Charon lingered outside, scanning the area. This would be practically indefensible. 

Inside, it was a flurry of activity. Thirty some people, unknowns, potentials threats, were all hugging Nana Mae and talking at once. Dirty, exhausted looking smoothskins, ghouls, and children all crowded into the lobby of the hotel. Then suddenly Harry was grabbing him and pulling him forward and calling to people who all smiled, said a dizzying list of names and tried to shake his hand . Charon clutched his shotgun tighter to his chest and tried to back away into the crowd until his back hit the wall.

Then suddenly, everyone was talking about the people who weren't there, the woman who died at the Chop Shop and whoever else. Then, thankfully, the surge of smiling faces backed off and there were tears and hugs. Charon took a deep breath and searched the crowd for his contract owner, finding her on a chair in the corner. An unknown woman patted her hand speaking to her, a small child in a filthy shirt was on her lap, and a Nuka Cola at her side.

She probably wasn't in danger, Charon mused. Still, best to keep a close eye on the surroundings.

He turned, and nearly collided with a short man, brown hair slicked back from a lean face.

"Well, I never thought Harry would come back from the supply run with a new face! How are you friend? They call me Titan." He grabbed Charons hand from the shotgun and pumped it in a furious handshake. "So, you've come to join our little community as we work to build a new tomorrow?"

Charon tried pulling his hand back desperately, shaking his head no in confusion.

"Oh, so just brought on to guard the caravan? Well, I think you will like what I have to offer better than any mercenary work. Here, let me show you something, you may decide to make this your new home." Then suddenly Charon was being pulled through a doorway, giving a last desperate glance back at the crowd quietly mourning together in the lobby of the hotel.

In the next room, Titan clicked on a floodlight that threw long shadows from the furniture and illuminated a wall covered in papers and pictures. Titan turned to Charon, smiling widely. Charon didn't know the man, but he recognized the smile. It was the same smile that Azhurdrul gave to every ghoul to decided to try Jet, convinced they wouldn't get hooked. It was the smile on the face of a dozen smoothskins selling fake miracle cures for ghoulism in the Underworld to the more naive.

That smile only grew when Titan broadly gestured behind him to the papered wall and breathed out dramatically "Atlantis!"

Charon grunted and shifted his stance.

"You see, like so many of us in the wasteland, I was looking for a place to be, to belong. And then, one day, I came across it! Tucked in a very secure safe in a very large mansion was an investment packet for this establishment. Well," he corrected with a chuckle, "the establishment we are working to uncover. You look pre war, they don't make them your size any more. Heh, bet a big guy like you is a hit with the ladies? Sure you are. So you remember the luxuries of life before the war. Why don't you have a seat, let me show you something."

It was the first Titan paused to take a breath, guiding Charon towards a half ruined chair. It groaned under his weight as Titan fiddled with papers and handed one to Charon. It was a glossy print of a drawing of a woman clad in a cocktail gown seated on marble fountain in a stalactite covered cavern. A Mr. Handy was handing her a martini.

"This whole area is riddled with natural caverns you see. So back before the war some of the very wealthiest old families decided to build a resort-style vault behind this hotel, right here! They used some of those caverns as the base, built into the mountain. Not those old rusty vaults, this would be the pinnacle of natural beauty and every luxury. Look at this blueprint. Generators, water purification, all automated of course. The best of the best people could enjoy music, art, spas, and every extravagance those old world elite loved. BUT, and here's the interesting thing, my friend. The bombs fell just before the planned grand opening. No one ever got to use it when the old world ended. So, of course I set out to see if this still existed. You'd do the same, wouldn't you my friend? What was your name again?"

He paused and Charon stared at him, then back down at the woman in the glossy ad in his hand.

Titan laughed. "Pretty, isn't she? See that's what I mean, the truly good life before the war? Well, I set off and found the hotel, but sometime over the last two hundred years, the opening was caved in by a landslide. Terribly common around these parts, I'm afraid. It was more than one man could dig out in a lifetime. So I continued my travels only to find this family out there wandering the wilderness, displaced from their home! It was a perfect fit, a match made for us."

Titan crossed the room, handing Caron paper after paper. Letters to the investors, blueprints, plans, advertisements, until he fumbled to hold into them. "I call it Atlantis, a buried lost city beyond our imagination. Together we can clear the path to the opening and embrace the good life that's been left, sealed for two centuries. All we have to do is clear a little rubble. As soon as our work is finished, every one out there will live as kings and queens. I could use another strong back, especially from a guy as big and brawny as you. What do you say, are you ready to stop your mercenary ways and live like royalty?"

Titan smiled as Charon handed him back the stack of pre war papers and stood. "Talk to Nana Mae," he said finally, and headed back into the other room.

Some of the room had emptied out, quieter. A few people sat in groups, comforting each other quietly, smoothskins and ghouls like.

Nana Mae was kneeling over a sack in the room, handing out candy and toys to six small children who crowded around her. She smiled as Charon got closer, and reached up to hand him a pack of snack cakes. "Don't worry, I kept some for you. I know you like your chocolate."

To his surprise, Charon found himself smiling back.

\-----

A large conference room had been set up with mattresses and sleeping bags salvaged from the crumbling remains of the hotel. There was a flurry of activity to find blankets and pillows for the newcomers. Hannah, he noticed, had disappeared off with another woman not long after they arrived. Sebastian was whispering with someone off in a dark corner of the room. Nana Mae and Harry both insisted on getting to bed. Charon stood for a moment in the corner before deciding to investigate around the perimeter.

Steady stood outside, shielded from the winds by a crumbled wall and lighting a cigarette. He motioned Charon over. "You met Titan?"

Charon grunted an affirmative and Steady grinned around his smoke.

"Asshole right? It was a vote. Smoothskins mostly wanted this. We warned them." They looked out over the valley, where shadows played like ghosts over the rocks, and the mountains blotted out the sky.

It wasn't until Steady tossed down his butt and ground it under his heel that Charon spoke. "This will be hard to defend."

"Yup. Lot of death in this family. Hope it's worth it." He walked back into the hotel, leaving Charon alone in the darkness.

\-----

 

"We needed more mining equipment! Dynamite! We need to dig! What the hell do you call this, Harry?"

Morning had dawned, and Charon was helping Harry and Nana Mae unpack the packs the Brahmin had carried. Everything was fine until Titan emerged from his room and surveyed the growing pile of supplies they had bought in the Capital Wasteland. Apparently, they weren't to Titan's liking.

"We bought some of that Titan. And we got the things these people need to survive." Nana Mae replied.

Titan ran an angry hand over his head, looking to Harry to reply instead of her. "You aren't getting it, Harry! We open up that vault and everything your so called family needs is taken care of. All this junk will be useless." He kicked a water purifier at his feet.

"Ain't no one will be able to dig if they have radiation poisoning from the water. Besides, we need to live in the meantime. We need to set up water and defenses, a good source of meat, try to plant some crops..."

"Did you forgot that the people voted for me? I'm their savior here, we need to.... you need to listen to me. Alright?" He sighed. "Get the water purifier up, I guess, but then we need everyone, I mean everyone down digging out the vault."

Harry went as though he was going to reply but Nana Mae silenced him with a hand on his arm.

Titan turned and noticed Charon, and suddenly the wide smile was back on his face. "Don't mind us there, friend. Always a few bumps on the way to perfection. I will see you over at the dig site!" He trotted away, still smiling.

Charon' hopes were that he wouldn't see him at all, but it wasn't to be. As soon as Harry started on the water purifier, Nana Mae insisted on going to where her family was digging.

Titan had said it was a little rubble, but in actuality it looked like the entire mountainside had tumbled down. The only trace that anything was hidden was two elegant marble stairs and the end winding banisters that terminated in a wall of boulders and rock.

The settlers were all hard at work, some with shovels and picks while others shoved carts filled with the rubble. Even the children were hard at work.

"My god," whispered Nana Mae, "this will take months, maybe years."

Beside her, Charon grumbled, staring up at the pile of rocks.

"Alright people, let's keep our spirits high!" Titan's voice rang out. The slimy fool had a megaphone. "Every rock removed is one closer to paradise!"

"Well, nothing to do for it, I guess." Nana Mae said and walked over and pushed one of the carts over to fill with rubble. 

Charon stood, muttering for a long moment. Then, with a sigh, he hooked his shotgun to his back and grabbed a pick axe.


	7. Decisions

Nana Mae had held his contract for five weeks. Lately, this had been spent side by side with the other settlers, slinging a pick axe at the mountain of rocks blocking the entrance to the bunker, to Atlantis. It was more activity than he had in decades, but his height gave him leverage over the smaller settlers, even though they had spent lifetimes farming.

A few of the ghouls jokingly started singing him a song about someone named John Henry. For a second it piqued up that part of his mind where those old memories lay, something about sitting on a red carpet, but the thought slipped away. Charon loudly grumbled and the ghoul stopped his singing.

Work started at sunrise, went until dusk. A line of settlers cracked rock, a line shoveled it into sledges, a line drug it away, never ending. Older kids helped dump sledges, the younger ones ran water for the workers. The only people who seemed exempt from the work were Betty, the raiders baby they found, another toddler, and Titan. The babies were in a makeshift playpen in the shade near the base. Next to them Titan had pulled a worn high backed chair from the hotel, where he watched work, one leg crossed over the other.

Occasionally, Titan glared down at the two little as though if he could put them to work, he would. His job, as he explained through multiple arguments with Harry, was to motivate the people. Motivation, to him, came through his bullhorn.

"Alright friends, I know this is awful. But just think, if you give it your all now, the easy living life is just THAT much closer. Doesn't that sound good? And look! It looks like it's lunch time! Mac and cheese! Doesn't THAT sound good?"

Charon wiped his hands off, and turned to where Nana Mae was stirring the contents of a dozen cans in a pot over a fire. There had been an argument the night before, where Harry had told her to cut down on rations. They had to make them last three months, with a lot of mouths to feed. His contract owner looked almost apologetic as she dished him a small amount.

"I miss Nana Mae's actual cooking. Not just heatin' stuff up, but back at the homestead? Real cookie'?" Sebastian sighed at the table across from him, talking to a girl around his age. 

"Cooking means crops and livestock. All we have is digging here," she answered, and was about to say something else when suddenly a bullhorn slammed onto the surface between them.

"Now what's that friends? No looking back. Think of the future! When they made our new home, they hired the best chefs to prepare gourmet food, preserved down in that hill. It will make all these Blamco dinners worth it in the end. Just think what that will mean in the end."

Charon eyed the bullhorn for a moment and decided that he definitely could shove it small end down Titan's throat remarkably far before it got stuck. He turned the mental image over in his mind for a moment, enjoying it.

"Look, see? That big fella is finding a reason to smile. We all have to!" Titan waved merrily and milled over to another table.

Behind Charon, someone at a table bandaged blisters on their hand. At another table a ghoul was wrapping cloth around his face to keep the harsh sun off of thin skin. Stimpacks were too valuable to use on aches and pains. Everyone looked broken, even smoothskins shuffling. He glanced over at Nana Mae, who seemed as gray as when she held the dying woman back in the Chop Shop, her jaw a straight line. In her own way, she was a harder contract holder to protect than Azhrudkal ever was.

"Alright friends! Back to work! Who is excited! You look excited!" Titans strangely chipper voice magnified through the bullhorn bounced off the rock and through the valley. Charon stood for a moment looking out over the mountains and remembering the campsite they had passed weeks earlier, but was distracted by Nana Mae sneaking up behind him. With a wink, she pressed something into his hand. Gum drops. Then she was gone, back down to help draw water. Charon sighed and picked up a shovel. Strange. Now that he thought about it, he never had been ordered to dig, had he? He loaded the first scoop onto a waiting sledge.

\-------

To be honest, he was surprised it took as long as it did to happen. It was night time, just after Steady had stubbed out his last cigarette and told Charon goodnight. The dorm where the settlers slept was all quiet, warm noises of exhausted sleep. Outside it was dark, no moon, and Charon peered into the darkness looking for movement.

He watched for an hour, but was still off guard when the screams started. He cursed. This whole time he had been betting the attack would come from the east, but they had chosen the rocky west side.

He charged into the room, where people were popping out of bed, confused. It took him a moment to locate the screams, but a settler stood, pointing out a window. Beyond, he saw the flash of leathers. Raiders.

Nana Mae slept towards the back, and he ducked around the beds, pushing to get to her, to protect her. She had her back to him as he approached, but whirled round as though she sensed him coming. "Charon! Get the children! Get them to safety!"

It was almost a pleasant feeling, a direct order like that. For a moment, he had a warm calm clarity wash over him, blocking all thought. It faded and he realized he was back heading across the room. For some reason, he had a heavy weight struggling under one arm. He looked down to find he had somehow picked up a boy who was screaming and kicking. A smaller girl was nearby and he grabbed her by the upper arm and she shrieked.

This left a moment of question. Where could be considered a safe place? Mentally, he mapped the ruins of the hotel, then started moving. Behind him someone was yelling something, but he ignored them as he charged through the double doors and down a crumbling set of concrete stairs. In the darkness below, he saw his destination. The old walk in freezer. Bullet resistant, underground, defensible. It would do.

When he shoved the kids inside, he found the girl had actually torn through his shirt pulling against him. Now the boy was saying something about the dark, but he slammed the door before he could finish.

He hit the bottom step when he saw Hannah coming down, a lantern in one hand ad her pistol in the other. "Charon! Good thinking! Get the others!"

The order from Nana Mae was already pulling him upstairs, where things were in chaos. Gunfire rang out outside, beds were strewn on their sides, people yelling, running. 

Through it, he spotted another child immediately. A woman was wrapped around it, sobbing, shielding it. It took quite a bit of force to peel her hands off of it. He hoisted the child to one side and the woman kept up after him, pounding her fists on his side. Screams pinpointed another, hiding behind a bed. He grabbed it up, blanket and all, and they charged downstairs. The woman didn't stop hitting him until Hannah snatched her away as he deposited the two children into the freezer.

His third trip up, he realized something. He had no idea how many children there were. It was going to make this order awfully hard to follow. Who qualified as a child, anyway? Charon glanced over to where a man was yelling something crouched over a corpse of another settler. He was wearing one shoe and held, of all things, an alarm clock. The man stood when saw Charon. "Have you seen my boy? Have you seen Sebastian?!" They were all defenseless as children, Charon thought, shaking his head. Perhaps he should go to Nana Mae for clarification.

He found her in the corner of Titan's office, clutching the baby Betty, surrounded by three kids. "Come on, don't be scared. Follow Uncle Charon. He is going to take us to safety."

The children listened immediately, following him into the basement, one clutching at his hand. It was like they had their own contract to listen to Nana Mae, he mused. 

Hannah called from the doorway "Thank god you found them all!" Charon sighed that his question was answered. It would have bugged him otherwise.

That meant his command was fulfilled, and he looked towards Nana Mae. Her face was dark, angry, in a way he hadn't seen before. "Charon. Please. Make my family safe."

He drew his shotgun and she nodded, backing into the freezer. She pulled an arm around a child, saying soft things as she held them, but her eyes were still hard. Her family wouldn't be safe until the people threatening them were eliminated. She didn't have to say it.

At the top of the stairs, he headed towards the sound of gunfire. A step into the hall and he corrected his previous thought. Not Raiders. Slavers. Two were pushing a woman down in the hall, forcing a remote collar on her. She screamed as he blasted ones head open, kicking the other onto his face and snapping his neck with his foot. 

Harry was taking cover on one side of a doorway, reloading. A settler hunched behind him, clutching her bleeding shoulder. Charon strode past, shotgun at the ready. They were, after all, part of the family. He had to protect them if they were in battle.

But later, when the sun rose and slavers lay dead, they still weren't protected, were they? More would come. And regardless of how much he wanted stay close to his contract holder, protecting her would be easier if he got rid of that threat. Charon sighed and stared over to where Nana Mae was comforting a man weeping over the body of a woman, a child tucked under her arm. Why did all of her orders seem to complicated? He stepped out of the building and started to walk.

Working for Azhurdkal hadn't let him with many questions as to how to fulfill the contract. Guard him, stand in the corner, destroy the things he wanted destroyed, threaten pretty much everyone else. Nana Mae required decisions, discretion. How to fulfill her orders, but also her wishes.

Tracking the path the slavers had taken was a decision. It took a day to find the main camp, and following the order meant wiping out the threat. That was simple.

The question came of what to do with the rest of them. The ones who weren't threats, huddled in the back of a pen and staring at him with terrified eyes, collars blinking. Nana Mae hadn't said anything about them.

Charon sighed. But, in a way, she had. "A good family grows and shares," she had said. She had taken the baby Betty with her, out of the Raiders nest. It wasn't an order, no. But it was the sort of thing that got him a smile and a pack of gumdrops.

Two days later, the shouts started when he was still a distance away. "Uncle Charon is back! He's got people with him!" And then the settlers were rushing out, helping to lead in the six, their necks still red from collars. People were around him, someone was handing him water, pulling him closer to a warm fire where something bubbled in a pot.

And then Nana Mae was by his side, clutching his hand in hers, smiling up at him.

"I worried we had lost you."

"No," he said, trying to clear a rarely used voice. "But I thought you'd want them here, not... there."

She smiled again and rummaged through her pockets, pulling something in a wrapper out and pressing it into his hand.

His decision was right then, he had done right for Nana Mae.


	8. The Vote

The day after he brought back the escaped slaves marked 42 days that Nana Mae had held Charon's contract. It was the day that the big vote happened.

Charon didn't like that day.

It started alright. Steady had picked off a molerat for breakfast. No one was working the dig site since the slaver attack. People weren't all eating together, either. They spread into small groups around the hotel. The freshly released slaves sat with Charon's group. They were almost finished eating before one of them talked.

"We want to go home, my brother and I. We're from a settlement to the south, got nabbed on a hunting trip. Settlement should still be there. Mom's probably worried sick." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I know it's a lot to ask, but do you have a weapon to spare? We'll pay you back, send it with the next caravan to come northbound. If you can't of course, I understand, but..."

Harry put his hand over hers, and to her credit she barely flinched at the ghoul's touch. "We'll help you get home. Don't worry."

A half hour later Charon was holding a duffel bag while Nana Mae dropped a few cans of food, ammo, and stimpacks inside. The siblings were smiling with joy, thanking her and for a moment it was all good. Then Titan rounded the corner.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" His face was red, spittle coming from his lips as he charged towards Nana Mae. "First you all stop digging, now you're GIVING away supplies?" He reached out to grab Nana Mae's hand, "You people just..."

And a second before Titan's hand touched his contract holder, Charon was aware that he was holding Titan in front of him. His hand was around the smaller man's throat, his eyes bulging, and his feet dandling below him. Charon grinned and gave his throat a little shake, watching his hands uselessly claw against him.

"Put him down, Charon!" Nana Mae barked behind him. Charon released his grip immediately at the order and Titan dropped to the ground in a heap. He scuttled back towards the wall like a radroach.

"What's.... What's wrong with you people? I can find another batch of idiots to dig out the vault in a heartbeat! Don't forget that! You need me!"

Charon let out a feral growl, and Titan's eyes grew wider. In an instant he was through the door to his office, slamming it behind.

Nana Mae finished packing up the supplies, but kept looking at Charon with a sort of sadness he couldn't quite understand. It bothered him as they walked the released slaves to the far end of the road. One of them was crying and Nana Mae held his hand for a long time, murmuring something that Charon couldn't hear. Then suddenly the man turned and hugged Charon around his waist, burying his face in Charon's chest with a sob. Charon went rigid and desperately looked to Nana Mae. His contract holder smiled, but still had those sad and incomprehensible eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you for getting me out of there," the man said before wiping his face and taking off after his companion.

For a brief moment, Charon stood there with Nana Mae, watching them leave. "My contract says to keep you from harm," he said finally.

"I know, Charon. I know. Let's get back to camp."

Charon didn't like those sad eyes on Nana Mae. He didn't like the raised voices he heard coming from the hotel either. Without thinking, he stepped in front of Nana Mae. He could see two of the smoothskin settlers just outside the door, one yelling and the other shoving into his chest. His hand went to his knife.

"Oh for pete's sake Charon... Boys, knock it off! You're too old to be fighting like that but neither of you is too old for me to put you over my knee."

Both men stopped and looked over, almost embarrassed.

"Now, what's this all about?" Nana Mae asked, her hand on her hip

"Sammy says we ought to just dig..."  
"We ought to!"  
"Bullshit. We need defenses."  
"We'll have that inside."  
"My daughter had her neck in a collar! She hasn't slept since!"  
"She can wear herself out digging then!"  
"You son of a..."  
The first smoothskin pulled back, projecting a sucker punch. Before he could react, Charon stepped himself in between the two men. Both suddenly got very quiet when they were staring down the chest of the giant ghoul.

Nana Mae gave each of them a close look. "Alright boys, go cool off separately. We will talk about this later. Go on. Get!" The two stormed off in opposite directions and Nana Mae waited until they were gone to let out a sigh. "Thank you Charon. Let's see if there's any Nuka Cola in the food storage. I could use a sit down."

There were several, but somehow Nana Mae caught him eyeballing the only Nuka Cherry and handed it to him. He tried hard not to drink it too fast, to keep pace with his employer.

"Nuka break?" Hannah called, walking over and picking up one of the cleaner bottles. "Heard about what happened with Titan."

"We caught Sammy and Ben fighting by the south door," Nana Mae worried at her pearls.

"No surprise. Steady had to break up a fight just now too. Ethan gave Uncle Teddy a black eye. Well, I guess as black as a ghoul's eye can get." Hannah sipped her cola thoughtfully. "Uncle Teddy wants to leave completely."

Nana Mae's head shot up. "What? I've known Teddy for a century."

Hannah shrugged. "He says we aint gonna be able to dig out the vault before we all starve or get picked off by raiders. Uncle Teddy ain't the only one saying that, too. You know, I believed in the whole thing, back when Titan first told us. But I thought we'd be in the vault by now. I ain't ready to leave yet, I still want to get in the vault, but I don't think we can keep on like we have."

Nana Mae stared away, and Charon followed her gaze to where there were two fresh mounds of dirt. The settlers who died in the slaver attack, he realized. 

"Get everyone together. We have to decide what we are doing as a family."

Charon didn't like the meeting. First everyone gathered in the dorm and people were angry. The room was tense, close. Somehow, in the weeks that had passed he had stopped thinking of these people as potential threats to his contract holder. Now with them red faced with fury he reevaluated them. He slid behind Nana , sneering at anyone who seemed to be thinking of getting too close. His shotgun was in a footlocker, Nana Mae's orders, but he would tear everyone in this room apart if need be.

It was Harry who lead the discussion, trying to keep people talking one at a time as they yelled over each other. They screamed about the slaver attack, the raider attack that first uprooted them from their homestead, about wanting to finally be safe. Then, the people slowly started to get quieter, to listen. And Charon realized something. These people weren't angry, they were scared. 

That only made him move a little closer behind Nana Mae. Scared people made stupid decisions.

The sun finally set and Steady lit the lanterns when Harry called for the vote. "Alright, we got three choices. But no matter what we chose, we do it together, as a family. Even you newcomers." Harry smiled at the released slaves who had decided to stay. They looked a bit shocked. "All of us have sacrificed a lot up until now. So we can keep digging the way we were, try to get into the vault. We can leave and try to find a new homestead. Or we can homestead here, work on the vault some of the time." Harry took a deep breath. "By show of hands..."

People were crying when it was over, hugging each other. It was like a damn burst and the group was suddenly changed. A family, he could trust not to be a threat. Charon took a breath and let Nana Mae step away from him, talking to a settler.

"Hey. Charon." Steady was beside him, rolling a cigarette in his fingers. "Tell Titan. I dare you."

It didn't seem like a bad idea, so with a glance to make sure that Nana Mae was preoccupied, Charon ducked away and to the office.

Titan sat, turning over one of the Atlantis pamphlets in his hand, staring at the woman pictured on it. He looked up at the doorway, then flinched in a panic when he saw it was Charon.

"Titan. We're homesteading here."  
"What?"  
"Until we get the vault open, this is my family's home."  
"What the hell do you..."

Charon let the door slam behind him, and walked over to where Steady was laughing in the doorway.

"Lotta work to do."  
"Yup."  
"Glad you're on our side."  
Charon grunted.


	9. Caravan

Nana Mae had held his contract for three and a half months. Everything had changed since the vote, and suddenly Charon's life had a sort of structure to it.

The settlement operated on a schedule, penned out across newsprint and stuck to the dorm wall. None of the kids went to the dig site. They now had school classes at the insistence of Nana Mae. She watched the four smallest children, but a different ghoul taught the older kids. He would hear them discussing history or numbers, then the kids headed out to help with the garden or building.

All the adults were tasked with a day each week digging, including Titan. Charon's day was Tuesday, but he sometimes found himself up helping on odd days when there was nothing else to do. The dig site had changed too, people seemed more enthusiastic about the work again, except Titan, who grumbled and groaned with each swing of his pick.

Charon had night watch every day, after dinner Hannah relieved him at 4 am. He preferred it, letting the night air wash over him as he prowled the perimeter. Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday he'd help either Steady or Hannah give combat training to whatever settlers were free that day. It had been his idea, which shocked Nana Mae.

"It will help me keep them safe," he had explained.  
They would shoot cans off of one of the crumbling far walls, or practice sparring with each other. A few of them showed promise and even Sebastian was suddenly able to shoot straight most of the time.

Most of the other settlers were scheduled for time working on growing crops, but Charon was left off that list when they saw him manhandling seeds and overwatering the ground. Instead, as part of his patrol he'd keep a lookout for game. One of the ghouls was working on building a smoker out of an old shower, to preserve meat longer.

In the mornings, he'd usually sit in the corner of the room where Nana Mae watched the little kids. It made him feel better being close to his contract holder, knowing she was out of harm. Sometimes when she would sing songs, he would get that fuzzy feeling of remembering. He'd learn back and let it wash over him until the thoughts flitted away.

Things were busy, work was steady. He rarely thought of the Underworld. It was already fading into the other blurred memories.

Then one morning he made Nana Mae cry. He was sitting in his corner of the nursery, like usual, when the baby Betty grabbed onto the corner of his armor and used it to pull herself up. She stood there, wobbling for a moment, then suddenly went teetering backwards. Charon lunged forward, padding her fall with his hand. Then he hoisted her up to be seated. And when he turned, Nana Mae had tears spilling down her cheeks. She grabbed his hand and gave him that happy, sad eyed look he found incomprehensible.

It was the same day that there had been a call from the southern watch. Two brahmin loaded heavily were headed towards the hotel, lead by a few smoothskins. Charon and Steady watched them closely as they approached. They were clothes, lightly armed. More likely traders than raiders. Steady stepped out, making himself visible but hand on his gun. Charon was a step behind, standing full height until they got close.

"Whoa there boys. Just here to trade and drop a few things off." The woman out front called out. Steady and Charon walked out to meet her, and she whistled looking Charon up and down. "When they said I was looking for a big tall ghoul, I didn't expect you'd be this tall. I'm Ingrid Bennet, and I owe you a debt of graditude for getting my niece and nephew out of that slaver camp." She held her hand out and Steady nudged him to shake.

Then Steady was leading the whole caravan back to the hotel, calling out ahead for water for the brahmin. Ingrid chattered the whole way back in a casual tone.

"Didn't expect that anyone would take over this place. Come by here, oh, once? Twice a year. I'll add a spot on the caravan route to visit you. Not the best place for a settlement though. Soil's better to the south, that's where my family is. They got a good farm there, but I have too much wanderlust. I run all the way into the capital wasteland. There's a whole city there full of you folk. Ghouls I mean. Heard of it?"

Charon grunted affirmatively and Steady nodded. "He's from there."

"Anyone you want me to send anything to? A letter?"

Charon stared at her for a moment like she was crazy. None of the ghouls back there would want a letter from him. After a moment or two, Ingrid looked away uncomfortably.

They had arrived just before lunch, one of the mole rats Charon had taken the previous day combined with mac and cheese. Soon Ingrid was spinning stories of her caravan tales to entranced settlers. At one point, Titan tried pulling her aside and showing him his Atlantis flyers but Leslie brushed him off immediately.

Charon decided he liked Ingrid.

The caravan crew insisted on helping with dishes, and then Harry started negotiating a trade with Ingrid. Her prices were fair, bordering on cheap. Harry bought food, some ammo. A few replacement parts to try to get the Mr. Handy's they bought in the wastleland working. Ingrid threw in a bag full of replacements for the supplies they had given her niece and nephew. Then she turned to Charon.

"So, what can I give to you as thanks? Anything you want within reason, on the house." Charon pondered a moment, then selected a few boxes of ammo, a pack of gumdrops and a few packs of Fancy Lad cakes. Ingrid laughed, "sweet tooth and shotgun shells. I'll remember that."

Harry was packing up the cans of food. "Are you heading out soon? You're welcome to spend the night."

"Nah, gonna pack it up. Miles to go before we make camp."

"Can I ask you for more information about what you know about the area? We came through here," He gestured on a map he unfurled on the table, "but I don't know anything else around. I don't want any more surprises, like the slaver camp."

"Don't know what help I'll be. I usually cross the mountains further south. There's a small settlement to the southeast a few day's walk we trade with. Alright sort of folk, but I don't know that they are all that fond of ghouls. We avoid the northwest where you went through. Place is riddled with raiders, they watch the passes. Surprised you got through." She pondered over the map for a second. "I think the big guy there wiped out the only slaver camp. Or at least I hope so. Over the mountain to the north? No clue. Don't know anyone who's been that way. Can't be good news if no one comes down from there though, right?"

And then the caravan packed up and left with promises to return in a few months time.

This marked the first day of Nana Mae's nighttime worries. Charon found her the first night long after she should be in bed, in the ruins of the second floor. She was staring at the mountain to the north, twisting her hands, her face pale.

"There's something up there that will hurt my family Charon. I know it."

He found her night after night, until it became a ritual. One night she feared raiders, come to wipe her family off the face of the earth. The next it was slavers, come to take her family, do unspeakable things. She feared an encampment of supermutants who would drag off the smoothskins and kill any ghouls who stood in their way. Or maybe a whole cryogenicaly frozen vault full of Chinese solidiers who would awaken thinking the war was still on and they were the enemy. Rogue super robots. The Enclave. Ghoul-hating zealots. Massive packs of trained deathclaws. 

No matter the fear, each night he would stand by her, repeating the same things. "It's my duty to keep you safe. I won't let harm come to you. I won't let harm come to your family." It was more than he had talked in years, but he didn't know how else to protect his contract owner from the anxiety tearing her apart from within. "I will keep your family safe. I will. I promise."

Eventually, each night, she'd let him lead her back to bed, but he saw it wearing her a little down each day. After three weeks, he finally he had to do something to help her.

So as they ate breakfast, he slammed a loaded duffel bag down on the table where Hannah and Steady were eating.

"We are going to see what's to the north," Charon announced.


	10. Nana Mae's fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sing it with me:  
> Charon went over the mountain, Charon went over the mountain, Charon went over the mountain  
> To see what he could see.

Nana Mae had held his contract for a little more than four months when he lead the search over the mountain to the north. Hannah, Steady, and a smoothskin named Douglas were joining him.

When they left, the settlement was too busy with other drama to see them off with too much fanfare. Sebastian, it seems, had gotten very close to one of the other settlers and, to quote Nana Mae, "gotten her in a family way."

Charon found out when he heard raised voices and walked in on Sebastian's father chasing him around the dorm with a raised slipper. "You're sixteen years old! How could you be so irresponsible! If your mother was alive, do you know what she'd say?!?"

"Pa! I'm sorry! We weren't... I mean... We didn't..."

Charon decided this was none of his business and went back to packing for the exploration.

The first few hours of the trip Steady and Hannah had talked about how glad they were to be avoiding the drama unfolding at the homestead before they settled into a calm silence.

The mountain took the morning to reach and they took a break near the base, eating and scanning the rocks for an obvious way to get up. From here, there didn't appear to be one, just craggy rock that seemed to climb up at impossible angles.

"Try further west," recommended Steady, and walked for two hours without finding a foothold up the mountain. The ground around them was rising uneven, so they turned and backtracked, walking past the site of their own campfire.

Another hour passed when Douglas called over "Over there." Hidden in a slide of rocks was an old Corvega. Once they found it, they could pick the path of the road as it headed steeply up the mountain. An unnaturally flat area here, a patch of asphalt there. It hadn't survived the nuclear apocalypse well, but would still be easier to climb than the natural rockface.

It was slow going, picking their way up the heavy incline, avoiding where the road itself had crumbled off down the mountain, climbing over rock slides that obliterated the roadway. The road seemed to snake back in on itself as it got higher. Like most roadways, it was pockmarked with cars and a surprising number of trucks, which all were tipped over, skidded down off the roadway.

"Must have been too steep. Couldn't use breaks." mused Steady as they worked their way around one.

An hour into their climb they saw the first sign. "No Trespassing in Cave." Steady insisted on checking it out.

"Watch out. Liable to be some yoa guai in there." Hannah warned, staying near the entrance. Charon stopped within view of the entrance, looking in the dust for signs of disturbance. There was nothing but Steady's own footprints. The air inside was cold enough that Charon's breath came out in plumes.

Steady reemerged, shaking his head. "Nothing there."

They passed a few more caves, exploring some, finding nothing, and choosing to continue on. Finally, night was falling and they made camp on a somewhat flat stretch of road. After they ate, Charon walked to the crumbling guardrail and was surprised to see distant lights coming on far below them. It took him a moment to realise it was the settlement. The road had wound them up, but they were closer than he imagined.

"It looks so tiny. You could hold everything in your hand," mused Hannah. She closed one eye and held out her hand at arms length, circling the settlement with her thumb and forefinger. "Everyone right there."

Charon followed her movement, the lights, the vault, his contract holder, all held in the tiny circle.

"Bedtime. No philosophy," Steady ordered.

They hit the apex of the mountain by lunch the next day. Steady swept the other side with his binoculars with a frown. "Not much," he finally announced and passed the glasses to Charon.

Charon was prone to agree with him. No smoke, lights, no obvious signs of a settlement or camp anywhere. He looked over brown crumbling trees slowly east to west. Then he followed the path of the crumbling roadway, until he finally found something.

"Over there."

Douglas took the binoculars. "Looks like pre war buildings. Good a place as any to start. Day's trip at least."

They set off, past a landslide that had crushed several cars together into a pile, past hairpin turns that doubled back on themselves. Finally the road levelled out where the trees got dense. It had been old growth when the bombs dropped, thick dead brown trunks that blocked the roadway where they had fell and leaned close to them on either side. 

Steady stopped near one. "Radstag scat. Watch yourselves. Voices down."

They travelled in relative silence for another hour before they saw the first one from a distance off, eating the bark off of a tree. By the time they stopped for dinner they had seen so many it was obvious the woods were thick with them. Charon watched a particularly large herd making it's way through the binoculars through an opening in the trees. At least twenty of them grazing together.

"Guess there's nothing big enough over here to thin them out," mused Hannah.

Charon grumbled. His shotgun wasn't exactly good against animals. Not enough range and loud enough to startle others far off. He hoped they wouldn't have to tangle with any of the deer.

They didn't come upon the first building until noon the next day. It was a post office. They cleared it, finding nothing. Bins were still stuffed with letters behind the counter. Hannah opened one.

"Dear Mr. Finch. Congratulations on being selected the local distributor for Cosmic knives. Your first shipment... Geez. They all were just going about their lives when the bombs dropped."

"Yeah. We were." Steady gave her quiet glance and turned back to studying a local map. It showed a tiny town, only a few blocks wide.

It was a small house. Two skeletons in the bedroom. Broken glass coated the kitchen floor, but the cupboards were bare of food.

Next building was crumbled in on itself, and the town was small enough this lead them to the center block.

A Red Rocket station was backed up to a large white building with handpainted signs on the side for Nuka Cola, beer, sandwiches, and newspapers. Three skeletons were scattered near the boarded up windows.

Steady started to pull aside the boards, and after a moment Charon helped, and finally they wedged themselves inside.

Inside the silent room, they could see a skeleton lying next to a shotgun. Metal shelves blocked the entrance to the backroom. Charon pulled them aside, finding two more skeletons sprawled inside along with some supplies.

"Wonder what they were protecting?" Hannah wondered

"Doesn't matter anymore. Let's keep searching." Douglas responded.

The rest of the town was quiet, the search quick. Skeletons, crumbled structures, but nothing living. Charon found himself starting to relax.

"No food here either. Only those couple cans at the Red Rocket. Figure that's why they attacked it?" Hannah asked. 

"Tough days." Steady responded. 

"Damn, most have been their neighbors they turned on," Douglas responded. "Starvation is scary."

They were in the final building in town, a well preserved two story that still had a roof and four solid walls. Charon liked it. The inside looked almost pristine. There were still remnants of printed wall paper on the walls. The couch was still squishy when he sat on it, doilies on the arms. Dusty picture frames hung on the walls.

"Let's stay here tonight," he suggested.

"I was thinking Red Rocket. Better defended, don't you think?"

Steady shook his head. "No dangers. Real beds here."

Charon nodded, then headed to search the kitchen. The counters were pink, the wallpaper was floral, and the tablecloth was a slightly different set of flowers. Nana Mae probably had a kitchen like this, he realized. Flowers and food, taking care of her grandkids, before the bombs destroyed everything.

He buffed at the glass of the hutch to his side. Nana Mae certainly had these too. Charon chuckled, thinking of one of the songs that she sang in the nursery as he opened the door.

"Don't think I've ever heard you laugh before. What's so funny Uncle Charon?" Hannah asked, coming up behind him.

He turned showing her what was in his hands. "I'm a little teapot. Short and stout."

Hannah's eyes went wide. "Right. Okay. Yeah. Well, uhm. There's no food here either, so Doug and I are going to go grab what we saw in the Red Rocket for dinner. Someone ought to enjoy that food everyone died for, right?"

Charon nodded, running his hands over the porcelain pot in his hands. It was floral too, gold down the handle. Four matching teacups and saucers were in the cupboard as well, and a tiny little creamer and sugar. He set the teapot down and pulled the next drawer open, finding a stash of doilies that would match the ones on the couch, another tablecloth. Probably all waiting for guests who never came. That world ended. Charon sighed and closed the drawers.

They ate at the dining room table, Steady pouring over one of the maps from the post office. "Nothing nearby. At least wasn't. Don't think there is now."

Hannah poked at her Cram. "I don't think there's anything on this side that would be a threat."

"Lots of radstag."

"Yeah, but nothing like Nana Mae worried about. Good to know though. Head back in the morning?"

Charon and Steady agreed. That night, Hannah slept curled up on the overstuffed couch, and Steady and Douglas took the smaller bedrooms. It left Charon with a plush bed that was still made after two centuries, covered in at least a dozen small pillows. Charon dumped them all to the floor. It was too soft to sleep on, and he awoke long before dawn and stared at the ceiling, before deciding he needed to pack something.

They headed out in the morning, Steady giving a final glance around town to make sure there were no supplies to scavenge. The trip back went quicker without exploring and nearly made the mountain top by nightfall. For a long time, Hannah swept the darkness below, trying to see any signs of life.

"View's probably fifty miles. I don't see any lights."

Charon grunted in agreement. Hopefully, this would let Nana Mae sleep at night.

The trip back towards the settlement moved quickly. They passed by the caves knowing they were empty and didn't even have weapons drawn. At lunch, Steady looked down at a few of the trucks that had gone off the road.

"Military trucks. Let's scavenge. Might be something," he commented. It took he and Charon a few minutes to pry open the back door. Inside there was a tumble of unopened crates. Hannah knocked one open with the butt of her shotgun. Steady let a low whistle.

"Stimpacks," Douglas's eyes went wide. "The hell were they going with all these?"

"Supply depot," Charon said before thinking. Steady shot him a questioning look. "They kept supplies to be redistributed to ration depots and the military outposts."

"You're right," replied Steady. He pointed to the next crate. "Let's get that open."

Before long, they found that the entire truck was filled with medical supplies. Some of it, like the stimpacks, were useful. Others, like the broken autodocs and heavy equipment, less so.

"Hey Uncle Charon? Got some spare room in your pack for some of these?" Hannah called out, as she packed her bag full of smaller supplies. 

Charon shook his head no. "It's full."

"Help me open this," called Steady from the next truck, which lay on its side. Charon bashed in the lock and Steady wrenched the door open. He glanced inside, then shoved Hannah backwards.

"Get back smoothskins! Damn." He cautiously stepped inside. "Charon, look at this."

Charon stepped in behind him, watching as the other ghoul ran his hand down the smooth side of a nuclear bomb, visible through a cracked crate. "Mark 28s. Five of them. Damn. You feel any radiation?"

Charon shook his head no. 

"What is it?" Hannah called from far outside.

"Nukes. Pre War." Steady and Charon headed out, Steady prying the door back closed. "Other side to the USA. Right Charon?"

The ground was levelling off when night fell, and they decided to just quickly move the rest of the way to the settlement. The lookout took too long to notice them coming, Charon noted. Time to work on retraining that smoothskin. But it was good. His contract owner was fine, sleeping peacefully when he arrived. His own bed was good.

Then the next morning, everyone was smiling as they told of the trip over the mountain, the caves, the forest full of radstag, the ghost town that had starved itself. And, most importantly, the lack of dangers ready to charge over the mountain for them. Nana Mae had held his hand for the entire story, beaming up at him from time to time.

"The caves. Were they cold as a fridge?" Harry asked Hannah

"What's a fridge, Uncle Harry?"

The ghoul chuckled and repeated his question to Steady. "Yeah. At least. Maybe colder."

Harry mused. "We could send expeditions to hunt the radstag over there. Store excess meat and bring them down after they've been salted. Can it maybe. Between that and the medical equipment it will give us something for trade."

Soon plans for a monthly trip up the mountain were the works. Charon stepped out before they could finish. Nana Mae watched him go, then excused herself after him.

Charon stood by his bed, gently opening up his knapsack, and motioned her over.

"I got this. For you," he said, and started to unwrap the lace and tablecloth from around the little tea kettle and the cups, lying each side by side on his bed.

And then Nana Mae was crying again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sing it again:  
> The other side of the mountain, the other side of the mountain, the other side of the mountain, was all Charon could see.


	11. Sickness and Health

Nana Mae had held his contract for 10 months, but today was surprisingly similar to his life before her.

He was standing in the corner, looking threatening. At least he was good at it, after all the years in the Underworld, although this room was far more pleasant than the Ninth Circle had been. Once, this was Titan's office, and the collage of brochures about Atlantis still were pinned over one wall.. Now it was sort of the business hub for the settlement. 

Right now, Harry and one of the smoothskins sat across from two representatives from a caravan. No one looked happy.

"You're saying that ten caps per stimpack is all you can do?" Harry said incredulous. " Going rate is twice that."

"I'm not offering caps, I'm offering trade. Look, you aren't going to see another caravan for six months. Not many will deal with... well, you people."

Harry sighed and leaned back in his seat. Charon took the opportunity to let out a little noise in the back of his throat. Not quite a growl, just enough that the smoothskin would be aware of him in the corner. He saw the caravan guard twitch slightly, the gesture well recieved.

"Fifteen caps in credit apiece. We will sell you 50, that's more than you'll get anywhere else," Harry replied.

The caravaner chewed his tongue for a moment, then nodded. He stood, ignoring Harry's outstretched hand, and headed out to his brahmin.

"Dammit Uncle Harry. We could have gotten 20 a piece if we held out."

"We hold out too long and we'll be in trouble. You know as well as I do that mutfruit ain't taking like it should. We can't survive on radstag and carrots forever."

Charon grumbled next to him, sick of the meal as well. Harry slapped a friendly hand on his shoulder and they headed out.

It was a hot day, and the heat smacked Charon in the face. The settlement was loud today. The visiting caravan's brahmin were penned with those those owned by the settlement, and they were all lowing at a newly born calf. Someone had brought the older kids out to show how to repair the water purifier, but had stopped the lesson to let the cool water spritz out in a mist. The children screamed and played, clothes soaked through. To one side, he could hear a baby screaming. They had two recently born, but Sebastian's was usually the noiser.

Up the mountain at the dig site there was a shockwave of sound, followed by calls from today's workers. One of the ghouls had recently repaired a Mr Handy so that it would send out shockwaves that splintered the large boulders blocking the vault. It had sped up the digging and finally silenced Titan's complaints about the rate that the excavation moved at.

From here, all he could see was the waves of heat pouring off of the rock face. Charon sighed and headed towards the nursery which, at least, was shaded.

The small children were napping through the heat of the day on mats placed inside the entrance to the cooler basement. Just outside, Nana Mae was sitting with the ghoul who taught the older children, Eleanor, pondering a book between them.

"Charon come look at this. You said you met the Lone Wanderer?"

"I saw him," Charon corrected.

"It mentions he went to Underworld," Eleanor mused, flipping the pages of the book. "Just bought this from the caravan. It's written by the same woman who created the Wastleland Survival Guide. Biography of the Lone Wanderer. She says she knew him well."

"May have. We passed by Megaton before we met Charon here. Only one ghoul in the place, owned a bar, couldn't stop singing his praises. Damn shame how he died. Charon, could you check if the water is boiling?"

Charon turned to where the pot simmered on a hot plate, and nodded. Nana Mae got up with a sigh and poured the boiling liquid into the waiting teapot, adding some sort of dried herb to the mix.

"I'm thinking about doing a whole lesson on the Lone Wanderer. It will be nice to have some more recent history to teach the kids."

"Don't you think it's a little dark?"

"What history isn't dark Mae? We talk about the bombs, the time after. Right now, we're covering the battle of Anchorage..."

"I was there," interrupted Charon. Both women looked up at him in surprise. After a long, quiet moment, he added. "Alaska. It was... It was..." something. Memory was slipping away again. "It was cold."

Nana Mae patted his arm with a smile, then poured the tea, handing him one of the steaming cups. He winced at the hot beverage, his massive hands dwarfing the tiny porcelain cup.

"Anyway, it will be nice to show that one person can make a difference," Eleanor added. She had only one tuft of hair left, but it was curled and plastered to her forehead with sweat. She blew on the hot cup to try to cool it. "Not quite real tea, but it hits the spot."

Nana Mae hummed in response, and they watched the children sleep in silence.

\-------

Nana Mae had held his contract for 18 months when the sickness struck. He was at the dig site, shovelling out the rocks the Mr. Handy, nicknamed Digger, had broken down. Hannah had been beside him for most of it, carting away the sled of rocks. But she was working slow all morning and finally had sat under a nearby tree.

"I gotta take a break Uncle Charon. I'm kind of dizzy. Gotta get some water or something."

Charon had grunted and drug the next sled himself, and was filling up the next before he bothered to check on the smoothskin. She was huddled up into himself, her cheeks red, sweat pouring off of her despite the cooler weather.

"Uncle Charon... I think I need to get back home," she had said, and Charon had had to loop his arm around the smaller woman's waist, and practically dragged him the last few feet around the corner and into the dorm.

He deposited her on a bed, not caring whose it was, and Hannah had stared up at him with glazed and shining eyes. Then Charon was running to fetch Nana Mae.

Titan was the next to fall ill, teetering into the room and throwing up on floor. He helped Steady move them into the office, setting up a little sick room.

"Stimpacks don't work against viral infections," Harry had explained. "We just need to keep them comfortable, hydrated."

And so he had, standing next to beds and handing Nana Mae damp cloths to wipe the faces of the smoothskins. Fetching purified water and helping to wash the blankets of the sick beds. For a while it seemed every hour a new smoothskin would be glassy eyed and red faced and he would put them to bed, carrying them if neccessary. 

Nana Mae was strong in the sick room, talking in low soothing voices, sometimes sitting for hours and holding their hands. But when she was away, she would sob, clutching Harry. Charon could only stand by, useless. He was failing his only order, up against an enemy he couldn't fight.

The third day, half of the smoothskins were sick. It was then he brought a shovel and pick down from the vault site and dug the first grave. The fourth day, he had to dig a much smaller one. Before the week was through, he had buried five of the smoothskins, only the other ghouls well enough to stand over the grave, weeping. He didn't bother taking the shovels back until the last fever broke.

He doubled up his patrols then, guarding the site almost by himself. The smoothskins were too weak now to protect themselves. Charon's frustration was boiling over, and he stared across the valley daring any threat to come near. Anything he could fight. But nothing came.

It was two weeks before things started to return to normal, the recovering smoothskins still regaining strength on broth, but up, moving, talking again. Nana Mae had followed him out to where he was cleaning his shotgun.

"I haven't had a chance to thank you Charon."

"Why?"

"For everything you did when the fever hit. I couldn't have gotten through it without you."

Nana Mae was a strange contract holder.

**Author's Note:**

> My first playthrough of Fallout 3, I rushed the main plot, barely explored or scratched the surface. I never even noticed Charon.  
> In later playthroughs, he became my trusted silent grumpy bodyguard. It made me sad thinking of the version of him left under Ahzrukhal's thumb in that first playthrough.  
> This is me giving a story to that version, and alleviating my guilt.


End file.
